Rod Stewart Says Screw You To The Saudis, Refuses To Perform For Big Pay Day

In a world where celebrities, athletes and musicians sell out left and right for the almighty pay day, Rod Stewart is saying the heck with that because the buyer is Saudi Arabia.

The 78-year-old music legend had previously turned down a $1 million offer to play Qatar because of the country's human rights abuses. He has also now reportedly turned down Saudi Arabia's offer which was "substantially more" over the same concerns.

"I’m grateful that I have a choice whether or not to perform in Saudi Arabia. So many citizens there have extremely limited choice women, the LGBTQ community, the press," Stewart told the UK Mirror.

Rod Stewart turned down multiple performance offers from Saudi Arabia and other countries. (Photo by John Medina/Getty Images)

Stewart said that he hopes that by not taking the money that he raises awareness to the Saudi laws and censorship and hopes others will follow suit.

“I’d like my choice not to go to shine a light on the injustices there and ignite positive change." A source told the Mirror that “Rod was determined to do the right thing and couldn’t accept the offer, no matter how much money was on the table. Some things are more important.”

SHOULD OTHERS FOLLOW?

Sir Rod's steadfast refusal to take the money is in direct contrast to other musicians like Bruno Mars and Iggy Azalea who recently performed in the country as well as various sporting events.

The PGA Tour for example received mass criticism for selling out to the Saudi's LIV Golf before eventually forming a partnership with them. Other athletes like Jake Paul, Francis Ngannou and Tyson Fury have also had events in the Kingdom as has the World Wrestling Entertainment, who has put on an annual pay-per-view event there in recent years.

Despite Stewart's respectful hold out, unfortunately I don't think it's going to have as much of an impact as he hopes. The Saudis have openly admitted that they are interested in transforming (and taking over) the sports and entertainment world and are openly bragging about the amount of unlimited wealth that they have in order to do so. They recently took partial ownership of the Professional Fighter's League and are the heavy favorites to get a future World Cup and perhaps even an NFL game.

However, in this day and age especially it's important to praise those who stand by their moral values. So shout out to Rod Stewart and everyone go listen to Forever Young in his honor.